Over the past few days, Kaepernick has been called a traitor, slammed for disrespecting his country and the men and women who fight for it, blasted as ungrateful, had his immense NFL salary used as a reason he shouldn’t even complain, told that he “should find another country that works better for him,” and deemed “not black” (Kaepernick is biracial).

But now some members of the military are speaking out in support of Kaepernick and his message—or, at the very least, his right to say it.

Using the hashtag #VeteransForKaepernick, service men and women offered a sobering take on the situation. Not only did many of the people using the hashtag, which trended on Twitter and Facebook, support him, they believe he has a point. Some veterans (or veterans’ relatives) fought for a country that later showed them injustice; along with the state of veteran hospitals, some of them saw poor treatment due to the color of their skin.

Critics who called out Kaepernick’s actions might point out that #VeteransForKaepernick is only a fraction of veterans, but the conversation shows that not every veteran falls under one viewpoint. What’s even greater is that they, too, can speak out about it—that’s what they fought for, after all.